From Staff Reports

Following a ringing endorsement by representatives of local environmental regulatory groups and other government agencies during a May 18 meeting in Asheville, Alternative 4B has been chosen for the new I-26 Connector to be built through Asheville.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation announced during the meeting that it will proceed with 4B over other options that it previously favored, which pleased those who had contended that there was no chance of influencing DOT on its plans. 

A DOT engineer working on the massive projected said that, in part, the decision was based on overwhelming public support for Alternative 4B. 

The new I-26 Connector will divert much through-traffic off Bowen Bridge, just west of downtown, making the bridge more of a connector between downtown and West Asheville. The route will include facilities for pedestrians and bicyclists, as well as cars. 

The new section of Interstate 240, as a bypass, will route traffic across the French Broad River on an arc-shaped freeway running north of the bridge and just to the east of Westgate Shopping Center.

Local residents have long advocated the separation of Patton Avenue and Interstate 240 traffic in the area, but that concept was not part of DOT’s original plans.

The agency only began studying the Alternative 4B option because of pubic concerns and suggestions. Supporters said they were worried that DOT would block the idea because of the extra cost involved.

“I really wasn’t expecting it — in view of what DOT was pushing,” Bruce Emory, a retired transportation planner involved in the effort, said of Wednesday’s decision. Triggering a governmental agency as large and powerful as DOT to change directions is “a big deal.”

DOT and local residents and officials have been talking about how to relieve congestion on the bridge — the busiest spot on the state highway system west of Gaston County — since the state General Assembly chose the I-26 Connector project as one of the intended uses for higher highway taxes in the late 1980s.

The entire project includes changes around Bowen Bridge, widening Interstate 240 in West Asheville and improvements to the interchange at the far west end of I-240 near the WNC Farmers Market.

Heated debates over the route and how wide I-240 should be, lack of funding for highway projects and the project’s low score on at least one DOT priority list have all driven the schedule for the I-26 Connector well beyond what anyone expected more than 25 years ago.

The May 18 decision delighted some people who have advocated 4B as the best route for that part of the project and those more concerned with just getting construction going to accelerate traffic on Bowen Bridge.

“I’m very pleased and I think overall it’s the best choice for the city of Asheville,” said local architect Alan McGuinn, a member of a volunteer group — the Asheville Design Center — that developed the alternative that DOT modified to become 4B.

“I give DOT credit in that they did listen to us” in the end, he said, even though “sometimes I thought they didn’t.”

Kit Cramer, president and CEO of the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce, said her organization did not favor any one route: “We just want to get it built — get it done.”

“I’m glad that we have taken another step. I hope we can get the final details wrapped up and move on this thing because we needed it yesterday (May 18),” she said.